Fairy Pools, Loch Ness, Drumnadrochit

On our second (and sadly last!) morning on the Isle of Skye, we woke up early, checked out, and made our way towards the Fairy Pools after a quick stop to resupply at a grocery store in Portree. A couple days later I saw someone post a selfie from this grocery store with Russell Crowe! (Lots of stars in town to film scenes for the new Highlander movie at Eilean Donan and the Quiraing.) 



As we drove towards the Fairy Pools, it started raining soooo hard. Like torrential downpour with a whipping gale. So when we got to the parking lot we checked the radar and decided to hang out in the car for 20 minutes or so in hopes that the storm would subside a bit. 

Trying to capture the rain outside, but you can't really see it...

How about now? 

As we started off, the winds were SO strong that they blew Luke into a drainage ditch and then knocked him back in again when he was almost out. It was CRAZY. We quickly learned that when a gust came, we either needed to brace our legs or drop lower to the ground--otherwise you had no chance of staying upright. 

Neil had been hoping to do some swimming--not today! 

We could barely see the mountains--we had been planning to do a loop trail that went through the mountains, but the closer we got, the worse the storm got. 

And once we got past the "easy" section of the trail, the trail itself pretty much disappeared. 

But look at that beauty!!! 

I was soooo glad we all had not just raincoats but rainpants as well. We saw a lot of people in the parking lot trying to squeeze water out of their jeans. 

Then we drove back from Skye to the mainland, listening to one of our favorite audiobooks that everyone has memorized backwards and forwards--The Water Horse. Can I just say that it was the coolest thing to be driving along next to Loch Ness while listening to Kirstie and Angus tipping Crusoe into the loch from the very same lay-by we were driving past at the moment???

After we checked into our hotel we went on a ramble through the woods to get down to the shore of the loch. It's pretty anticlimactic, to be honest, but kudos to the nearby towns for running a bustling tourism industry out of essentially nothing! 

We also spotted the Fairy Log--legend has it that the deeper you pound your coin, the quicker the fairies will grant your wish. 

And lots of gorse in bloom! 

Back at our hotel, the boys enjoyed a rousing game of foosball. 

And made some wee Scottish friends! 

That night I was texting my sister about how sad I was that we were leaving the next morning and I had yet to see a genuine Highland cow (or "hairy coo" as they're called locally). I debated going for a run the next morning before we left for the airport as I was pretty tired and the idea of sleeping in sounded very alluring--even more so when I got up and started getting dressed and realized the rain was pounding on the skylights and windows in our room. But I made myself go out and when I left the boundaries of the town of Drumnadrochit, almost immediately I spotted them!

Genuine hairy coos!

Then I ran up through the woods towards the site of an Iron Age fort that I'd read offered a great view of Loch Ness. 

This was truly one of the best runs of my entire life. I was still on an adrenaline high from finally seeing the Highland cows, the rain was tapering off so it was a light drizzle that made all the colors come alive, and NOBODY else was out--just me and the sheep and the sunrise on these gorgeous gorgeous trails. 

Sheer heaven. I was so so so happy. It didn't even bother me when the rain started blasting down again. 

I got back to our hotel (I thought the logo was so clever!) 

And we drove out past Loch Ness, pausing for one final look back at Urquhart Castle. 

Then it was time for a looong day of travel--flying from Inverness to London and then London to home. I thought this was a cool little thing in the Inverness airport. 

And I had my own little hairy coo to snuggle with on the plane. 

This is the last picture I took at the very end of my run as I came back into Drumnadrochit--we have a little free library in a British phone booth at home and I thought it was so fun to see in Scotland! 

So the next morning I hauled my jet-lagged self out of my beloved bed and ran 10.1 miles downtown to take a photo with our little free library at home! I must say the weather was waaaay more enjoyable on my run the previous day in Scotland. Kind of wild to run in 50-degree beauty one day and then 6100 kilometers away in blazing heat the next. 

 

Isle of Skye: Quiraing, Brothers Point, and Trotternish Peninsula

On our only full day on the Isle of Skye, we PACKED IT IN. First of all I got up very early and ran to the Fairy Glen, which was amazing, and then after breakfast we set out to hike the Quiraing. 

First of all, let me just establish that I have hiked a LOT and seen a lot of beautiful places, and this is hands down one of the most beautiful wild places I've been.

It had snowed the night before, so all the snow lying on the hills showed every ripple in the ground and it was just the most incredible visual effect. 

You can either do this hike as a loop or as an out-and-back (which is what most people do). We did the full loop, where you hike to the end of the ravine and then up the mountain and back along the cliffs, so you're walking on top of the cliffs you seen in the left side of the photo below. 

Just so gorgeous. I could not stop taking photos because every bend showed something more beautiful. 

For a lot of places, the photos don't do the actual scenery justice, but this one they don't even come close. It was SO much better than the photos show. 

It was also very cold! 

About two seconds after this photo Isaac fell full length backwards into the mud...poor guy. He was a good sport about it though! Neil also told me later he fell a solid half-dozen times on the descent (which was very wet and slippery grass). 

Looking back from the top of the cliffs; the ocean is on my left. 

I was wearing waterproof boots so I really enjoyed the second half of this hike. Everyone else, who had opted to just wearing running shoes, had a less favorable opinion of the icy snowmelt which was about 3 inches deep all over the top of the cliffs. You can sort of see it here, but there was a noticeable current and no way to avoid walking through the water. 

The yellow grass in the photo below that looks like it basically drops off is what you walk on for the whole descent. It was quite thick and did a great job of concealing the inches of water that you sunk into with every step (this is where Neil was sliding). The boys ended up making a game of it and just racing down to see who could get the highest spurts of water behind them. They were all soaked by the end (I had anticipated that and made everyone change into dry shoes and socks when we got back to the car). 

Good heavens it's a gorgeous place. 

Once we got back to the car, we had a quick picnic spread and I love so much the fact that the back essentially had a built-in table. 

Brie, jam, cured meats, and sourdough. My fave. 

Then we hopped back in the car to see a few other points on the Trotternish peninsula. First was a stop at Mealt Falls...

And then we started hiking down to Brothers' Point. 

Lots of checking out the tide pools! We saw lots of seals hauled out on the teeny little island close to shore. 

And soooo many lambs! 

The island-ish rock right behind them is full of seals. 

Climbing up and over the cliff-looking thing in the center of this photo was genuinely terrifying because the wind was so strong and one step in the wrong direction would send you careening down into the ocean. The kids and Neil were fine; I was super stressed by it, which is not typical for me, but this felt very unstable because it was mostly dirt rather than rock and more prone to sliding. Just FYI. 

Pretty unbeatable views though! 

We stayed out at the point for less time than everyone else would have liked but I wanted to get back over the top before the wind picked up much more. 

It was already quite windy...

We climbed back up to the road again and set off towards the ruins of Duntulm Castle, which dates to the 14th century. 

It's a pretty solid position for defense! 

Then we made a stop at the Fairy Glen, which I had been telling everyone all day was soooo magical. Well...the light was pretty grey and it was PACKED with people and not very impressive after the Quiraing, so...keep that in mind when planning the order of your adventures. 

Finished up the day with a lot of fish and chips! This was probably the best fish we had the whole trip.